History of GottfriedLeibniz

Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

Changed: 5c5

Yet, in the 'best of all possible web pages' Monads can

Changed: 8c8

known it. (By means of that 'prestabilized harmony'

known it. (By means of that 'PrestabilizedHarmony?'

Changed: 22c22,41

once for all. --- )

once for all. --- )

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was a
philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomate
and lawyer. Independently of Isaac Newton he
'invented' the infinitesimal calculus (and also
the notation df/dx still used.) His philosophical
contribution to metaphysics is based on the
Monadology, which introduces MonaDs? as 'substancial
forms of being. They are a kind of spiritual atoms,
eternal, indecomposable, individual. In the way
sketched above the notion of a monad solves the problem
of the interaction of mind and matter that arises
in Descartes' system, as well as the individuation
that seems problematic in Spinoza's system, which
represents individual creatures as mere accidental
modifications of the one and only substance.
The "theodicee" claims to justify the
apparent imperfections of the world by its
being optimal among all possible worlds.

	Revision 6 . . (edit) January 28, 2001 2:03 pm by JoshuaGrosse
	Revision 5 . . (edit) January 28, 2001 10:21 am by (logged).btvt.together.net
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	Revision 3 . . January 28, 2001 10:06 am by (logged).hrz.uni-giessen.de
	Revision 2 . . January 28, 2001 9:37 am by (logged).hrz.uni-giessen.de
	Revision 1 . . January 25, 2001 7:24 pm by (logged).KSCY.splitrock.net